1625-0015 Stat/Authority

Council on Environmental Quality

§ 1508.5

which address classified proposals may
be safeguarded and restricted from public dissemination in accordance with
agencies’ own regulations applicable to
classified information. These documents may be organized so that classified portions can be included as annexes, in order that the unclassified
portions can be made available to the
public.
(d) Agency procedures may provide
for periods of time other than those
presented in § 1506.10 when necessary to
comply with other specific statutory
requirements.
(e) Agency procedures may provide
that where there is a lengthy period between the agency’s decision to prepare
an environmental impact statement
and the time of actual preparation, the
notice of intent required by § 1501.7
may be published at a reasonable time
in advance of preparation of the draft
statement.

PART 1508—TERMINOLOGY AND
INDEX

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Sec.
1508.1
1508.2
1508.3
1508.4
1508.5
1508.6
1508.7
1508.8
1508.9
1508.10
1508.11
1508.12
1508.13
1508.14
1508.15
1508.16
1508.17
1508.18
1508.19
1508.20
1508.21
1508.22
1508.23
1508.24
1508.25
1508.26
1508.27
1508.28

Terminology.
Act.
Affecting.
Categorical exclusion.
Cooperating agency.
Council.
Cumulative impact.
Effects.
Environmental assessment.
Environmental document.
Environmental impact statement.
Federal agency.
Finding of no significant impact.
Human environment.
Jurisdiction by law.
Lead agency.
Legislation.
Major Federal action.
Matter.
Mitigation.
NEPA process.
Notice of intent.
Proposal.
Referring agency.
Scope.
Special expertise.
Significantly.
Tiering.

SOURCE: 43 FR 56003, Nov. 29, 1978, unless
otherwise noted.

§ 1508.1

§ 1508.2

Act.

Act means the National Environmental Policy Act, as amended (42
U.S.C. 4321, et seq.) which is also referred to as ‘‘NEPA.’’
§ 1508.3

Affecting.

Affecting means will or may have an
effect on.
§ 1508.4

Categorical exclusion.

Categorical exclusion means a category of actions which do not individually or cumulatively have a significant effect on the human environment
and which have been found to have no
such effect in procedures adopted by a
Federal agency in implementation of
these regulations (§ 1507.3) and for
which, therefore, neither an environmental assessment nor an environmental impact statement is required.
An agency may decide in its procedures
or otherwise, to prepare environmental
assessments for the reasons stated in
§ 1508.9 even though it is not required to
do so. Any procedures under this section shall provide for extraordinary
circumstances in which a normally excluded action may have a significant
environmental effect.
§ 1508.5

AUTHORITY: NEPA, the Environmental
Quality Improvement Act of 1970, as amended (42 U.S.C. 4371 et seq.), sec. 309 of the Clean
Air Act, as amended (42 U.S.C. 7609), and E.O.
11514 (Mar. 5, 1970, as amended by E.O. 11991,
May 24, 1977).

Terminology.

The terminology of this part shall be
uniform throughout the Federal Government.

Cooperating agency.

Cooperating agency means any Federal agency other than a lead agency
which has jurisdiction by law or special
expertise with respect to any environmental impact involved in a proposal
(or a reasonable alternative) for legislation or other major Federal action
significantly affecting the quality of
the human environment. The selection
and responsibilities of a cooperating
agency are described in § 1501.6. A State
or local agency of similar qualifications or, when the effects are on a reservation, an Indian Tribe, may by
agreement with the lead agency become a cooperating agency.

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§ 1508.6
§ 1508.6

40 CFR Ch. V (7–1–11 Edition)
Council.

Council means the Council on Environmental Quality established by title
II of the Act.
§ 1508.7

Cumulative impact.

Cumulative impact is the impact on
the environment which results from
the incremental impact of the action
when added to other past, present, and
reasonably foreseeable future actions
regardless of what agency (Federal or
non-Federal) or person undertakes such
other actions. Cumulative impacts can
result from individually minor but collectively significant actions taking
place over a period of time.
§ 1508.8

Effects.

Effects include:
(a) Direct effects, which are caused
by the action and occur at the same
time and place.
(b) Indirect effects, which are caused
by the action and are later in time or
farther removed in distance, but are
still reasonably foreseeable. Indirect
effects may include growth inducing effects and other effects related to induced changes in the pattern of land
use, population density or growth rate,
and related effects on air and water
and other natural systems, including
ecosystems.
Effects and impacts as used in these
regulations are synonymous. Effects
includes ecological (such as the effects
on natural resources and on the components, structures, and functioning of
affected ecosystems), aesthetic, historic, cultural, economic, social, or
health, whether direct, indirect, or cumulative. Effects may also include
those resulting from actions which
may have both beneficial and detrimental effects, even if on balance the
agency believes that the effect will be
beneficial.

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§ 1508.9

Environmental assessment.

Environmental assessment:
(a) Means a concise public document
for which a Federal agency is responsible that serves to:
(1) Briefly provide sufficient evidence
and analysis for determining whether
to prepare an environmental impact

statement or a finding of no significant
impact.
(2) Aid an agency’s compliance with
the Act when no environmental impact
statement is necessary.
(3) Facilitate preparation of a statement when one is necessary.
(b) Shall include brief discussions of
the need for the proposal, of alternatives as required by section 102(2)(E),
of the environmental impacts of the
proposed action and alternatives, and a
listing of agencies and persons consulted.
§ 1508.10

Environmental document.

Environmental document includes the
documents specified in § 1508.9 (environmental assessment), § 1508.11 (environmental impact statement), § 1508.13
(finding of no significant impact), and
§ 1508.22 (notice of intent).
§ 1508.11 Environmental impact statement.
Environmental impact statement means
a detailed written statement as required by section 102(2)(C) of the Act.
§ 1508.12

Federal agency.

Federal agency means all agencies of
the Federal Government. It does not
mean the Congress, the Judiciary, or
the President, including the performance of staff functions for the President in his Executive Office. It also includes for purposes of these regulations
States and units of general local government and Indian tribes assuming
NEPA responsibilities under section
104(h) of the Housing and Community
Development Act of 1974.
§ 1508.13 Finding of no significant impact.
Finding of no significant impact means
a document by a Federal agency briefly
presenting the reasons why an action,
not otherwise excluded (§ 1508.4), will
not have a significant effect on the
human environment and for which an
environmental
impact
statement
therefore will not be prepared. It shall
include the environmental assessment
or a summary of it and shall note any
other environmental documents related to it (§ 1501.7(a)(5)). If the assessment is included, the finding need not

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Council on Environmental Quality

§ 1508.19

repeat any of the discussion in the assessment but may incorporate it by
reference.
§ 1508.14 Human environment.
Human environment shall be interpreted comprehensively to include the
natural and physical environment and
the relationship of people with that environment. (See the definition of ‘‘effects’’ (§ 1508.8).) This means that economic or social effects are not intended
by themselves to require preparation of
an environmental impact statement.
When an environmental impact statement is prepared and economic or social and natural or physical environmental effects are interrelated, then
the environmental impact statement
will discuss all of these effects on the
human environment.
§ 1508.15 Jurisdiction by law.
Jurisdiction by law means agency authority to approve, veto, or finance all
or part of the proposal.
§ 1508.16 Lead agency.
Lead agency means the agency or
agencies preparing or having taken primary responsibility for preparing the
environmental impact statement.

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§ 1508.17 Legislation.
Legislation includes a bill or legislative proposal to Congress developed by
or with the significant cooperation and
support of a Federal agency, but does
not include requests for appropriations.
The test for significant cooperation is
whether the proposal is in fact predominantly that of the agency rather
than another source. Drafting does not
by itself constitute significant cooperation. Proposals for legislation include requests for ratification of treaties. Only the agency which has primary responsibility for the subject
matter involved will prepare a legislative environmental impact statement.
§ 1508.18 Major Federal action.
Major Federal action includes actions
with effects that may be major and
which are potentially subject to Federal control and responsibility. Major
reinforces but does not have a meaning
independent of significantly (§ 1508.27).
Actions include the circumstance

where the responsible officials fail to
act and that failure to act is reviewable by courts or administrative tribunals under the Administrative Procedure Act or other applicable law as
agency action.
(a) Actions include new and continuing activities, including projects
and programs entirely or partly financed, assisted, conducted, regulated,
or approved by federal agencies; new or
revised agency rules, regulations,
plans, policies, or procedures; and legislative proposals (§§ 1506.8, 1508.17). Actions do not include funding assistance
solely in the form of general revenue
sharing funds, distributed under the
State and Local Fiscal Assistance Act
of 1972, 31 U.S.C. 1221 et seq., with no
Federal agency control over the subsequent use of such funds. Actions do not
include bringing judicial or administrative civil or criminal enforcement
actions.
(b) Federal actions tend to fall within
one of the following categories:
(1) Adoption of official policy, such
as rules, regulations, and interpretations adopted pursuant to the Administrative Procedure Act, 5 U.S.C. 551 et
seq.; treaties and international conventions or agreements; formal documents
establishing an agency’s policies which
will result in or substantially alter
agency programs.
(2) Adoption of formal plans, such as
official documents prepared or approved by federal agencies which guide
or prescribe alternative uses of Federal
resources, upon which future agency
actions will be based.
(3) Adoption of programs, such as a
group of concerted actions to implement a specific policy or plan; systematic and connected agency decisions allocating agency resources to implement a specific statutory program or
executive directive.
(4) Approval of specific projects, such
as construction or management activities located in a defined geographic
area. Projects include actions approved
by permit or other regulatory decision
as well as federal and federally assisted
activities.
§ 1508.19 Matter.
Matter includes for purposes of part
1504:

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§ 1508.20

40 CFR Ch. V (7–1–11 Edition)

(a) With respect to the Environmental Protection Agency, any proposed legislation, project, action or
regulation as those terms are used in
section 309(a) of the Clean Air Act (42
U.S.C. 7609).
(b) With respect to all other agencies,
any proposed major federal action to
which section 102(2)(C) of NEPA applies.
§ 1508.20 Mitigation.
Mitigation includes:
(a) Avoiding the impact altogether
by not taking a certain action or parts
of an action.
(b) Minimizing impacts by limiting
the degree or magnitude of the action
and its implementation.
(c) Rectifying the impact by repairing, rehabilitating, or restoring the affected environment.
(d) Reducing or eliminating the impact over time by preservation and
maintenance operations during the life
of the action.
(e) Compensating for the impact by
replacing or providing substitute resources or environments.
§ 1508.21 NEPA process.
NEPA process means all measures
necessary for compliance with the requirements of section 2 and title I of
NEPA.

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§ 1508.22 Notice of intent.
Notice of intent means a notice that
an environmental impact statement
will be prepared and considered. The
notice shall briefly:
(a) Describe the proposed action and
possible alternatives.
(b) Describe the agency’s proposed
scoping process including whether,
when, and where any scoping meeting
will be held.
(c) State the name and address of a
person within the agency who can answer questions about the proposed action and the environmental impact
statement.
§ 1508.23 Proposal.
Proposal exists at that stage in the
development of an action when an
agency subject to the Act has a goal
and is actively preparing to make a decision on one or more alternative

means of accomplishing that goal and
the effects can be meaningfully evaluated. Preparation of an environmental
impact statement on a proposal should
be timed (§ 1502.5) so that the final
statement may be completed in time
for the statement to be included in any
recommendation or report on the proposal. A proposal may exist in fact as
well as by agency declaration that one
exists.
§ 1508.24

Referring agency.

Referring agency means the federal
agency which has referred any matter
to the Council after a determination
that the matter is unsatisfactory from
the standpoint of public health or welfare or environmental quality.
§ 1508.25

Scope.

Scope consists of the range of actions,
alternatives, and impacts to be considered in an environmental impact statement. The scope of an individual statement may depend on its relationships
to other statements (§§ 1502.20 and
1508.28). To determine the scope of environmental impact statements, agencies shall consider 3 types of actions, 3
types of alternatives, and 3 types of impacts. They include:
(a) Actions (other than unconnected
single actions) which may be:
(1) Connected actions, which means
that they are closely related and therefore should be discussed in the same
impact statement. Actions are connected if they:
(i) Automatically trigger other actions which may require environmental
impact statements.
(ii) Cannot or will not proceed unless
other actions are taken previously or
simultaneously.
(iii) Are interdependent parts of a
larger action and depend on the larger
action for their justification.
(2) Cumulative actions, which when
viewed with other proposed actions
have cumulatively significant impacts
and should therefore be discussed in
the same impact statement.
(3) Similar actions, which when
viewed with other reasonably foreseeable or proposed agency actions, have
similarities that provide a basis for
evaluating
their
environmental

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Council on Environmental Quality

§ 1508.28

consequencies together, such as common timing or geography. An agency
may wish to analyze these actions in
the same impact statement. It should
do so when the best way to assess adequately the combined impacts of similar actions or reasonable alternatives
to such actions is to treat them in a
single impact statement.
(b) Alternatives, which include:
(1) No action alternative.
(2) Other reasonable courses of actions.
(3) Mitigation measures (not in the
proposed action).
(c) Impacts, which may be: (1) Direct;
(2) indirect; (3) cumulative.
§ 1508.26

Special expertise.

Special expertise means statutory responsibility, agency mission, or related
program experience.

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§ 1508.27

Significantly.

Significantly as used in NEPA requires considerations of both context
and intensity:
(a) Context. This means that the significance of an action must be analyzed
in several contexts such as society as a
whole (human, national), the affected
region, the affected interests, and the
locality. Significance varies with the
setting of the proposed action. For instance, in the case of a site-specific action, significance would usually depend
upon the effects in the locale rather
than in the world as a whole. Both
short- and long-term effects are relevant.
(b) Intensity. This refers to the severity of impact. Responsible officials
must bear in mind that more than one
agency may make decisions about partial aspects of a major action. The following should be considered in evaluating intensity:
(1) Impacts that may be both beneficial and adverse. A significant effect
may exist even if the Federal agency
believes that on balance the effect will
be beneficial.
(2) The degree to which the proposed
action affects public health or safety.
(3) Unique characteristics of the geographic area such as proximity to historic or cultural resources, park lands,
prime farmlands, wetlands, wild and

scenic rivers, or ecologically critical
areas.
(4) The degree to which the effects on
the quality of the human environment
are likely to be highly controversial.
(5) The degree to which the possible
effects on the human environment are
highly uncertain or involve unique or
unknown risks.
(6) The degree to which the action
may establish a precedent for future
actions with significant effects or represents a decision in principle about a
future consideration.
(7) Whether the action is related to
other actions with individually insignificant but cumulatively significant
impacts. Significance exists if it is reasonable to anticipate a cumulatively
significant impact on the environment.
Significance cannot be avoided by
terming an action temporary or by
breaking it down into small component
parts.
(8) The degree to which the action
may adversely affect districts, sites,
highways, structures, or objects listed
in or eligible for listing in the National
Register of Historic Places or may
cause loss or destruction of significant
scientific, cultural, or historical resources.
(9) The degree to which the action
may adversely affect an endangered or
threatened species or its habitat that
has been determined to be critical
under the Endangered Species Act of
1973.
(10) Whether the action threatens a
violation of Federal, State, or local law
or requirements imposed for the protection of the environment.
[43 FR 56003, Nov. 29, 1978; 44 FR 874, Jan. 3,
1979]

§ 1508.28

Tiering.

Tiering refers to the coverage of general matters in broader environmental
impact statements (such as national
program or policy statements) with
subsequent narrower statements or environmental analyses (such as regional
or basinwide program statements or ultimately site-specific statements) incorporating by reference the general
discussions and concentrating solely on
the issues specific to the statement

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Index

40 CFR Ch. V (7–1–11 Edition)

subsequently prepared. Tiering is appropriate when the sequence of statements or analyses is:
(a) From a program, plan, or policy
environmental impact statement to a
program, plan, or policy statement or
analysis of lesser scope or to a site-specific statement or analysis.
(b) From an environmental impact
statement on a specific action at an
early stage (such as need and site selection) to a supplement (which is preferred) or a subsequent statement or
analysis at a later stage (such as environmental mitigation). Tiering in such
cases is appropriate when it helps the
lead agency to focus on the issues
which are ripe for decision and exclude
from consideration issues already decided or not yet ripe.

Index to Parts 1500 Through 1508
EDITORIAL NOTE: This listing is provided
for information purposes only. It is compiled
and kept up-to-date by the Council on Environmental Quality, and is revised through
July 1, 2011.

Appendices ............................
Applicant ................................

Apply NEPA Early in the
Process.
Categorical Exclusion ............

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Circulation of Environmental
Impact Statement.
Classified Information ............
Clean Air Act ..........................
Combining Documents ..........
Commenting ...........................
Consultation Requirement .....
Context ...................................

Cost-Benefit ...........................
Council on Environmental
Quality.

Cover Sheet ...........................
Cumulative Impact .................
Decisionmaking ......................
Decision points ......................
Dependent .............................
Draft Environmental Impact
Statement.
Early Application of NEPA .....
Economic Effects ...................
Effective Date ........................
Effects ....................................
Emergencies ..........................
Endangered Species Act .......
Energy ....................................
Environmental Assessment ...

Environmental Consequences
Environmental Consultation
Requirements.
Environmental Documents .....
Environmental Impact Statement.

INDEX
Act ..........................................
Action .....................................
Action-forcing .........................
Adoption .................................
Affected Environment ............
Affecting .................................
Agency Authority ....................
Agency Capability ..................
Agency Compliance ...............
Agency Procedures ...............
Agency Responsibility ............
Alternatives ............................

INDEX—Continued
Cooperating Agency ..............

1508.2.
1508.18, 1508.25.
1500.1, 1502.1.
1500.4(n), 1500.5(h), 1506.3.
1502.10(f), 1502.15.
1502.3, 1508.3.
1500.6.
1501.2(a), 1507.2.
1507.1.
1505.1, 1507.3.
1506.5.
1501.2(c), 1502.2,
1502.10(e), 1502.14,
1505.1(e), 1505.2,
1507.2(d), 1508.25(b).
1502.10(k), 1502.18,
1502.24.
1501.2(d)(1), 1501.4(b),
1501.8(a), 1502.19(b),
1503.1(a)(3), 1504.3(e),
1506.1(d), 1506.5(a),
1506.5(b).
1501.2.

Environmental Protection
Agency.
Environmental Review Requirements.
Expedite .................................
Federal Agency ......................
Filing ......................................
Final Environmental Impact
Statement.
Finding of No Significant Impact.
Fish and Wildlife Coordination
Act.
Format for Environmental Impact Statement.
Freedom of Information Act ...
Further Guidance ...................
Generic ..................................
General Services Administration.
Geographic ............................
Graphics .................................
Handbook ...............................
Housing and Community Development Act.

1500.4(p), 1500.5(k),
1501.4(a), 1507.3(b),
1508.4.
1502.19, 1506.3.
1507.3(c).
1504.1(b), 1508.19(a).
1500.4(o), 1500.5(i), 1506.4.
1502.19, 1503.1, 1503.2,
1503.3, 1503.4, 1506.6(f).
1500.4(k), 1500.5(g),
1501.7(a)(6), 1502.25.
1508.27(a).

1500.5(b), 1501.1(b),
1501.5(c), 1501.5(f),
1501.6, 1503.1(a)(1),
1503.2, 1503.3, 1506.3(c),
1506.5(c), 1508.5.
1502.23.
1500.3, 1501.5(e), 1501.5(f),
1501.6(c), 1502.9(c)(4),
1504.1, 1504.2, 1504.3,
1506.6(f), 1506.9,
1506.10(d), 1506.11,
1507.3, 1508.6, 1508.24.
1502.10(a), 1502.11.
1508.7, 1508.25(a),
1508.25(c).
1505.1, 1506.1.
1505.1(b).
1508.25(a).
1502.9(a).
1501.2.
1508.8.
1506.12.
1502.16, 1508.8.
1506.11.
1502.25, 1508.27(b)(9).
1502.16(e).
1501.3, 1501.4(b), 1501.4(c),
1501.7(b)(3), 1506.2(b)(4),
1506.5(b), 1508.4, 1508.9,
1508.10, 1508.13.
1502.10(g), 1502.16.
1500.4(k), 1500.5(g),
1501.7(a)(6), 1502.25,
1503.3(c).
1508.10.
1500.4, 1501.4, 1501.7,
1502.1, 1502.2, 1502.3,
1502.4, 1502.5, 1502.6,
1502.7, 1502.8, 1502.9,
1502.10, 1502.11, 1502.12,
1502.13, 1502.14, 1502.15,
1502.16, 1502.17, 1502.18,
1502.19, 1502.20, 1502.21,
1502.22, 1502.23, 1502.24,
1502.25, 1506.2(c),
1506.3, 1506.8, 1508.11.
1502.11(f), 1504.1, 1504.3,
1506.7(c), 1506.9,
1506.10, 1508.19(a).
1500.4(k), 1500.5(g),
1501.7(a)(6), 1502.25,
1503.3(c).
1501.8(b)(3).
1508.12.
1506.9.
1502.9(b), 1503.1, 1503.4(b).
1500.3, 1500.4(q), 1500.5(l),
1501.4(e), 1508.13.
1502.25.
1502.10.
1506.6(f).
1506.7.
1502.4(c)(2).
1506.8(b)(2)(iii).
1502.4(c)(1).
1502.8.
1506.7(a).
1506.12, 1508.12.

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